The Italian Job
by trexreaching
Summary: After jilting his lover Eva at the train station mere hours before they were due to start a whole new life together Tommy doesn't think his days can get any more miserable. He should have known better than to dare it but dare it he does and soon he's trying to out wit Italian gangsters, his own family and protect the love of his life.
1. Prologue

**One Year Ago.**

Twenty five minutes until the train leaves. The knowledge alternates between being concerning and comforting. Time is stretching on and speeding up around her in irregular intervals one minute the long hand sits idly on the eight the next second, and it feels like only a second, it's sitting on the nine. She can feel panic twisting around her heart, winding its way up her throat until she feels like she can't breathe.

Where is he?

She scans the crowd quickly her eyes trying to take in everyone at once and linger on the details. Dark eyebrows here, a scar on the hand there, red shirts, blue jumpers, and black coats. Long hair, short hair, tall, small, fat, thin, they race by her in hurried blurs, each passing by unaware that with every second that goes by her heart is sinking further and further until she can feel it in her belly.

He's not coming.

The certainty with which she knows it makes her eyes mist and she quickly wipes a traitorous tear away. Everything they promised one another dead before it lived and instead of him telling her he's left her here in St Pancras, surrounded by tourists and grumpy business men who shovel over priced faux deli sandwiches into their mouths as they fight to get their tickets out of their wallets, to figure it out for herself.

With a sigh she looks at the clock. 19:00 Brussels - Now Departing. Turning on her heel she walks calmly to the counter, pulls her suitcase up to rest against the shiny plastic front and smiles at the pretty female attendant who gives her a welcoming smile completely oblivious to the hollow feeling that is consuming her. The attendant, Katy, asks her how she can help.

"I'd like a ticket to Paris, the next one you have available please."

x x x

He sits in the trailer, the velvet cushions of the bench sofa scratching his elbows. The place smells like Glade and cigarette smoke even though his mother always smokes out the door to try and prevent the stench from sinking into the fibres of the caravan. It doesn't work. These small things they do to try and make their small spaces seem nicer than they are never work. A flower box hanging out the window, a cheery sign hung in the window, a fresh coat of paint on the balcony doesn't detract from the tan tinfoil sides of their homes or the cement bricks tucked under the wheels. It does not distract from the wire fencing circling them or deafen you to the sound of heavy traffic that whizzes by right next to them. You can still hear the plastic slap of the doors as they open and close, you can still hear the footsteps of the caravan next door as though they were walking up your corridor. You can hear every shout, scream, cough and moan like it was happening just outside the bedroom door.

There's no such thing as privacy here.

It's how he knows that the silence surrounding them is because everyone can hear the hitch in her breath as she exhales smoke. From their plastic windows they can see the way her mouth turns down to touch the edge of her trembling chin and the discoloured tracks her tears have made on her cheeks. Her shoulders are hunched over making her look ten years older than her actual 55. He has done this to her, run her ragged with fear letting stress and anxiety age her prematurely. His reckless determination has carved deep lines on her forehead and around her mouth. The cigarettes haven't helped but they give her something to fuss with as her expectations are shattered and her self-worth called into question.

He wants to cry, not only because his mother is trying her hardest to hide how she is slowly falling apart again, how she is wondering just how much longer she's going to have to endure this, questioning how she got her and if it's worth it any more, but because he was done the exact same thing to the woman he loves. There is a silly part of him that tries to find comfort in knowing that without him she will never look like his mother, old and broken, but when he thinks about her standing at the train station by herself he knows that even if she won't be broken in the future for a while she will feel that way. She will have to pick up the pieces and put them back together missing the most important part of the puzzle.

Why he did it.

He cannot tell her, she already knows, but she won't understand. They are from the same world but they hale from opposite ends. She is on the top looking down on people like him, free from her shackles, he stares up at her tugging at the chain tied around his ankle. They bonded over having to keep this secret but ultimately it has separated them as they always feared it would.

He looks at the clock.

19:00

She'll be gone now. He has missed her.

His mother throws her cigarette into the bucket outside the door then turns to him her lips quivering. He rises to meet her for a hug blinking back his own tears.


	2. Homecoming Part 1

A trail of amber liquid slid down his chin making a lazy trail down over his stubble where it dripped from his chin onto the collar of his old discoloured t-shirt. the bar tender chuckled.

"Big plans fella?"

Tommy wiped at his chin like a messy child ignoring the bar tender completely and stalked over to his table in the back. The big TV on the wall opposite him had gone from showing a very boring darts match to a mind numbingly tedious snooker game. Idly he wondered if anyone would object to him hurling his glass at the screen by way of changing the channel. No one was even watching the screen as it flicked from green, to black, to blue, they probably wouldn't even notice. His hand gripped the glass tight but instead of throwing it across the room he tipped it back down his throat. Even if the place was one tiny step up from a shit hole, and it was a shit hole, he liked drinking there, even if the regulars didn't kick up a stink at the senseless vandalism the bar tender would probably have something to say about it.

How long had he been thinking about the television?

He looked at his glass. Empty. Figured. Time had been escaping him a lot lately.

"Too busy away with the fairies, thought you'd have grown out of it by now." his mother had teased with a fond smile that thinly veiled underlying concern.

Tommy wished it was as carefree as it sounded. What he wouldn't give for harmless musings or a fantastical daydream where he played the good guy, a Knight who beat off monsters and saved the Princess. But Tommy was no pure hearted Knight and in his daydreams he didn't whisk the Princess to safety instead he let her slip through his fingers and now she was off somewhere in another Castle sleeping with another Prince, or Knight, or whoever. Tommy didn't want to think about it. He wanted to get drunk, to saturate his brain in enough alcohol to wash away all the memories he had of her. He wanted to drink until he couldn't recall the sound of her voice. He wanted to black out the feel of her hands on his skin and her lips on his.

It'd been a year, to the day, since he'd dishonourably left her and he didn't need to check a calendar to be sure because as if the universe wasn't done kicking him in the head, today was also the day his father got out of Prison.

The great Michael McConnel, Ireland's Golden child was coming home after an extended stay at her majesty's pleasure. Back at camp the buzz of excitement was audible as he'd marched out of the gates and down the short drive to the dual carriageway that sung to him sleep at night. Nobody stopped him and asked where he was going, enquired as to whether he was going to be there when his father got home. Everyone just assumed that the McConnel boys would be toasting his heroic return like everyone else.

He would rather have the shit kicked out of him.

Release was set for midday so Tommy hit the betting shops placing on some dog races then laying down a bigger bet for a Derby scheduled for the end of the week - he didn't usually gamble but in an effort to get out of his own head he decided to do something out of character. He didn't expect to win - the kind of gambling he usually did erred on the side of an obvious win (fixing was such an ugly word) - but for a silly minute he let himself entertain the idea of doing just that. It wasn't much to get excited about but the sum wasn't the point. The point was to do something like that without the direction of his family, without their invisible hands guiding it towards a predictable end. It was about control. Autonomy. A small demonstration of the dominion he had over his life. A minute bit of evidence that he could survive without his family, that his genes wouldn't always dictate his life. If he could do something like this and feel okay leaving it to chance then maybe he could one day do something bigger.

He'd thought this way once before but at the last hurdle fallen. Would he always fall er would he one day sail over and across the finish line?

Tanya, one of the only young female bar tenders in the joint, placed a beer in front of him. Moisture wicked down the side of the glass and formed a ring on the table. He looked up at her in silent question. She gestured to a stocky man sitting underneath the dart board just pass the bar. He raised his own drink and smiled.

 _Must know me da._

At least he hoped it was in toast to his father and not a form of flirting. He sipped on the cold liquid letting it freeze his teeth. A black and grey lump collapsed into the seat opposite him and without preamble snapped. "Where the fuck have you been?"

Tommy gave his company a blank look. "Around." he replied at length.

Colin, his younger brother by four years, scoffed at him with disgust. "Dad's home." Tommy nodded in response. "You weren't there and don't think he didn't notice because you were the first thing he asked about when he got in the car."

Tommy snorted amused. He bet Colin loved that. His brother, unlike himself, was in awe of their father. Hero worshipped him ever since they were children and the passion had only grown as he did. If there was anyone, anything Colin wanted to be in life it was just like his Daddy.

"What'd you tell him?"

"That you were taking care of some business."

Tommy was surprised Colin hadn't taken the chance to further drive a wedge between his father and him but instead of letting him know he was mildly impressed by Colin's restraint he grunted.

Colin frowned at him. "What the fuck is wrong with you? You should have been there."

"He should have been here." Tommy countered easily. This conversation was a repeat.

"Tommy-"

"If you came here to chew me a new one consider it done. You can either stay and have a drink with me or go back and tell everyone I'm not done handling my business yet." his voice was callous his words poison tipped and stinging the wrong person but Tommy was embittered by the memories of the day and he couldn't stop himself from lashing out like a lion with a sore paw.

"Whatever's crawled up your arse will you shit it out already I'm so bored of this routine." Colin snapped grabbing Tommy's drink and downing the whole thing.

Tommy felt a grin pull at his mouth the a laugh sprung from his throat startling them both. Colin's own chuckle was more out of confusion than amusement but it was enough to clear the strained air between them and when Tommy was done the shadows in his eyes had lightened. "Next rounds on you."

"Colin wiped his mouth on his sleeve. "I need to talk to you about something."

Talking was the last thing Tommy wanted to do right now but he figured the longer they sat there the better the chance of his father not being around when he finally strolled home. Colin might have been excited for Michaels return but Tommy wasn't confident he could put on the right face and say the right words convincingly enough. The last thing they needed was he and his father rolling around on the dirt while the older McConnel raged about him not being too old to learn about respect.

"The floor is yours."

Colin looked around furtively, a bit of an exaggeration in Tommy's opinion but his brother loved all this cloak and dagger shit. "Not here I'll tell ya outside." Tommy watched as he got up noisily and weaved in and out of the close set tables to push through the double doors. Reluctantly he stood and followed his brother.

Cold air bit his cheeks the moment he stepped out onto the crowded North London streets. People barged past each other politely mumbling half hearted and unheard apologies as they rushed to catch packed tubes and slow buses home. A woman in a bright red coat made to push past Tommy, paused, gave him a slow smile then crossed to the bar over the road. He glanced back at the gold lettering of the Blind Beggar then to the glossy stained glass writing of the White Hart. He could see the appeal if you wanted to pay through the nose for watered down cocktails and craft beers you could buy cheaper in Sainsbury's. Personally Tommy liked the stale smoke smell of the Beggar and the way the bar tender didn't roll his eyes every time you wanted a re-fill. He withdrew a packet of smokes gave one to Colin then put them back in his pocket.

"Go on then," he drawled hunching his shoulders over to protect his ears from the frigid wind, "what did you wanna talk about?"

"Diamonds."

"Diamonds?" Tommy repeated in blank comprehension.

"Yeah." Colin nodded his nostrils flaring wide as he sniffed violently. His gut sank as Tommy realised he recognised this look. It was the frenetic one he got when he was high. This look was often accompanied by a bad idea Colin would insist they listen to. Tommy hated this version of his little brother.

"What about Diamonds?" he asked slowly.

"I need your help stealing them obviously."

"Obviously." Tommy muttered his eye catching on the red coated woman again. She slipped through the White Hart doors and stood on the street smoking staring at him through the crowds still making their way home. In the fading light her coat was a beacon, her blonde hair was highlighted in the dim light glowing through the windows but her face was losing distinction. He couldn't see the colour of her eyes, whether they were blue or brown, he couldn't see the shape of her lips or the slope of her nose. All he could see was the shape of her and vague details that meant nothing when all he was really doing was picturing another woman. A woman who would definitely not be standing outside a bar in London.

"Are you listening to me." Colin shoved him.

"Fucking Christ Col-" he glared at the red droplet that was trailing towards his brothers lip.

Colin wiped a hand underneath his nose smearing the blood into the bit of dark fluff he called a moustache. Tommy wondered when was he going to shave that thing? He looked even more of a boy with it than without it. "Tommy-"

"What is wrong with you huh?" he stared at the blood stain in disgust.

"Just listen-"

"Listen to what? You haven't said a bloody thing since we got out of here and I'm freezing my nuts off!"

"You're not listening to me you're too busy eye fucking the blonde over the road." Colin pointed right at her and Tommy turned his back to the crowd and glared at him. "Who are you looking for Tommy?" Tommy glanced at the ground then back at his brother, his lips drawn tight enough to make them disappear. "Fine," Colin sighed, "don't tell me but stop being such a fucking space cadet and listen. Fredrik Haus is about to come in possession of some rather dirty, very expensive diamonds and we're going to steal them."

Tommy blinked at him not quite sure he understood what his brother was saying. In fact he was rather hoping he hadn't heard his brother properly because the idea was so ridiculous, so idiotic. "Are you fucking serious?"

"Of course I'm fucking serious!" Colin exploded startling a small man getting out of a cab. He glared at the guy "What the fuck are you looking at?" the man gaped then slammed the door on the cab and quickly shot off across the street into the White Hart. Tommy glanced over his shoulder to find the woman with the Red coat had disappeared.

 _"It wasn't her anyway,"_ he told himself.

"Do you know who Haus works for?"

"Of course I do." Colin spat clearly insulted.

"Just how high are you?" Tommy peered at him bewildered.

"Come on man. They won't even know it was us that did it. Da owes someone on the inside a favour and this is what they're asking."

Tommy shook his head, "No way. I'm not fucking suicidal." He wasn't going to stick his neck out like this, not for that man and not against those people. Colin was the one with daddy issues here, he could solve them by himself.

Colin leant forward his eyes filled with stubborn fury . "We owe him Tommy."

"I don't owe him anything!" Tommy growled. "We don't owe him a fucking thing!" Tommy turned back to the pub his hand resting on the tarnished gold handle of their favourite scummy haunt. "Go home Colin, Rose'll be waiting." he said over his shoulder before slipping inside.


	3. Homecoming Part 2

Eva missed Paris. She'd only been on the train for an hour but already she could feel her independence rapidly slipping away from her with every revolution of the wheels underneath. With each hour they got closer to London she felt the collar tighten, it might have sparkled with jewels and been lined with a thick soft fur so as not to chafe but she could still feel it, each hour marked by another hole in the leather. The latch caught as they pulled into St Pancras.

She walked slowly along the platform, following the crowd with the kind of lazy step that looked more like she was dragging her feet than merely taking her time. When she reached the barriers a family was fussing with their ticket at the scanner arguing gently in German. The man behind her scoffed impatiently only eventually stepping forward to help when he couldn't stand to be delayed by his own selfishness any longer. The mother gave him the most genuinely grateful smile Eva had ever seen. The man blinked at her clearly surprised that an action carried out in frustration could still be worth being thanked for, could be deemed kind despite its delivery. He blushed and murmured that it was no problem. Eva scanned her ticket hoping to encounter the same problem as the German family but the sliders parted smoothly, the reader done throwing a hissy fit. She scowled at them.

"Traitors." she mumbled in Italian.

It took everything in her not to turn on her heel and grab another ticket back to Paris. She couldn't breathe here, the air was to close, he was too close. There was so much noise she couldn't sort out her thoughts from the voices of others. Her fingers started to tingle. Her heart ached with every beat. It had been a year and yet she'd been here only yesterday watching the countdown to heartbreak.

She could feel her mobile heavy in the bottom of her purse. She'd purchased a new one in France, filled it with numbers that would mean nothing on the other side of the channel. It sat useless in her pocket now, the network dud, the battery dead, her Parisian adventure over. Her UK mobile had barely seen any daylight, she called her mother on the way to France telling her she needed a break and she was going to see Anne Marie. Her mother had been happy, they were family friends, good to them when they'd needed to get out of Italy quickly years before Eva had been born. She never asked why they'd sought refuge in France and they'd never volunteered the information. Eva got the impression it was safer that way. The truth could be a liability. She should have called her family to tell them she was on her way back but she couldn't bring herself to put her hand in her bag and pull the phone out. Partly because she wasn't ready to accept she was back in London and entirely because she knew that his face would be the first thing she saw when it turned on. She should have erased the photo, looking at it only made her sad but part of her needed the hurt to stop her from romanticising him still. She needed the pain to remind her never again to do something as foolish as fall in love.

* * *

The journey home was slow, the train was cold and the seats smelt damp. Home sweet home, she thought. The apartment her family were staying in was nestled between elegant looking cream Georgian terraces in Regents Park. The houses weren't all homes, most of them were split into offices for lawyers and at the end of the ten house block there was a language school that attracted beautiful girls and boys who wore excited smiles on their faces. They weren't over the city yet, they'd only just gotten here with their backpacks full of notebooks and cameras to commemorate their visits or their first steps towards a new life. Envious Eva watched them laugh and joke around on the steps. She hated that she was so bitter that she hadn't been able to be disappointed and then move on. But the students looked so happy, so excited for the future. She'd glimpsed an exciting future, had spent hours tangled up in sheets talking about it, fantasising about a life free from having to watch her tongue or turn a blind eye. A life free of secrets. That's what she was bitter about. Having to return to a life full of lies.

The laughter fading away was a gentle nudge out of her pity party. She could run all she wanted but it would only exhaust her and she couldn't hide any longer so she ascended the stairs ignoring the way her heart sank with every inch gained. The door flung open revealing her mother in a pair of expensive jeans with a loose peasant top designed to look cheap but failing due to impeccable stitch detail. She looked like an off duty movie star.

"Eva?" she blinked surprised, alarmed actually.

Eva had expected a warm welcome, an embrace, a kiss to both cheeks with muffled words of how much she'd been missed. She might not have wanted to be there but she never for a second thought she might not be wanted. "Mama?" Eva asked in a small uncertain voice.

"Oh my goodness." her mother gathered her into her arms, the scent of vanilla wrapping around her like a soft warm shawl. Eva allowed herself to close her eyes and sink into the hold. She took strength she didn't even know she needed from her embrace. "Oh my darling." she kissed her cheeks twice. "I missed you." she whispered in Italian.

"I missed you too." she sighed. They shuffled into the hall, her suitcase forgotten at the door as her mother fussed with removing her coat and inspecting her for damage like she was a car.

"You should have called." she kept saying and with every repetition it started to sound like less of a retroactive offer to help and more like a telling off. "I would have come to get you."

"It's okay." she tried to reassure her hating to feel like she'd in some way inconvenienced her parents by returning home, to her house where she lived, unannounced.

"Still you should have called." her mother hung her coat up.

"What's going on?" Eva peered into the empty front parlour. Her father had searched for months for this house, which to a man who laid down hundreds of thousands of dollars for real estate like he was paying for a coffee was quite a long time. Most of them had been gutted and re-purposed years ago but the local council wanted to keep some homes in tact in order to attract movie stars and international business men with enough money to keep the place looking rich and tidy.

"That's a nice coat did you get it in Paris? How is Anne Marie? How is her fiancé?" her mother took her arm and lead her towards the kitchen. A stew pot was bubbling on the stove, the smell of tomatoes and garlic instantly comforting.

Her mother peppered her with questions which wouldn't have been unusual if she'd stopped to hear the answers. Instead she fired them at Eva like she was reading off a trivia card. The nervous chatter was making her anxious. "Mama what's going on?"

Her mother bit her lip then crossed to the stove and lifted the lid off the pot. "I'm making chilli doesn't it smell good?" she took a whiff and closed her eyes in bliss.

Eva frowned, "Mama."

"I told you to call." she said stirring the sauce, "if you had called I could have-"

"Eva!" her father's voice filled every inch of the kitchen. Eva turned in time for him to sweep her up into his strong arms and press kisses to both her cheeks. "Bella!" he exclaimed. "How was Paris?" There were many sides of Gio Vittoria that Eva did not see. She didn't see the man who shot people twice to make sure they stayed down. She never got to see the man who stared into the eyes of his victims to be sure that they understood that it was personal, that if they stole from Gio they were not only stealing from the man but from his family. She never got to see the greed that enabled him to rob others without qualm. She knew very little of his lack of moral compass. When Eva looked at him she saw the man who was always pleased to see her, who danced around their kitchen with her mother singing at the top of his voice. She saw the man who had taken her to the park, driven her to every dance lesson and indulged every childish whim. To Eva Gio Vittoria was not the butcher of Hatton Garden but a father who loved his family unconditionally.

She knew he could do wrong, had done wrong, but she was always willing to excuse it.

"It was nice. A little cold but it was good to see Anne Marie."

"I heard she is getting married, to a lawyer." he beamed. He couldn't have been any prouder if she was his own daughter.

Eva's heart swelled thinking of how happy Anne Marie had been. How in love she and Isaac were. "Isaac is a wonderful man. She's so happy it's practically shining through her pores."

"That's wonderful." he gushed. "Speaking of wonderful men there is someone I want you to meet."

There was a clatter behind her. "Gio, Eva is tired-" her mother tried to object

"Nonsense Izzy," her father waved her off like a fly. He took Eva by the arm and pulled her towards the study. The heavy door was only closed halfway and she could smell cigarettes and leather. Her father wasn't supposed to smoke in the house but he cheated by opening the window, not that it stopped the smell from sinking into the heavy velvet curtains. The room was small, just bigger than a cupboard but it had enough room for a large heavy polished oak desk with an old fashion green leather middle. His laptop was open to some spreadsheet she couldn't see and she noticed that he'd added more books to the already strained shelves that hugged the walls. There was an ashtray with a half finished cigarette burning away by itself and beneath that sat a man she'd never seen before.

He was a pleasant looking man or rather he was pleasing to look at. His hair was dark, thick and glossy even in the grey light that usually made everything look a little sad and tired. This man did not look tired, his skin was smooth, his eyes a deep brown like the wood of her father's desk and his lips were full. They looked like they were made for kissing. She tried to avoid being obvious about her up and down but she needn't have bothered because he wasn't even looking at her, he was looking right past her where her father was lingering in the doorway. "Eva," her father gestured to the man in the chair, "This is Alejandro Levy. Alejandro this is my daughter Eva."

Given the cue Alejandro rose, his eyes finally on her and she followed him up. He was a whole head taller than her which wasn't hard, she was average height most men towered over her, but there was something intimidating about this height difference. He looked down on her his hand large as it reached out and snagged hers. She swallowed a surprised gasp. He pressed those full kissable lips to the back of her hand and said, "Pleasure is mine." his voice was a smooth caress, artful in its delivery. It slipped over her invoking nothing more than a blush that was more embarrassment at the display in front of her father than because she was charmed.

"Pleased to meet you." she choked out trying not to whip her hand away too quickly.

"I hear you have been in Paris?" his accent was Spanish, it took her a moment to place it but with a name like Alejandro it made sense.

The previously dormant cogs in her head gave a screech as they started to turn. They had hidden in Spain for a while when she was a teenager a nice villa by the beach, pretty but boring. Being forced to stay in the house meant she watched children play down at the shore but never got the chance to make friends and join in. To compensate she spent a lot of time playing cards with a man who called himself Roman but Eva affectionately referred to as 'Bodyguard'. "Are you in business with my father?" she asked feigning ignorance.

He blinked clearly surprised. She smiled at him innocently pretending not to hear the way her father expelled a short impatient sigh, "Eva." his reprimand so mild it might have sounded like he was just saying her name.

"Of a sort," Alejandro replied when he'd recovered from his momentary but very telling pause.

Eva was tempted to roll her eyes. As if she could live this long and not know what her father did. It did not happen in big reveals, she didn't watch her father fall in and out of prison, she didn't witness him smoking cigars in a room full of men with dastardly looking moustaches and cackling laughs. She didn't see the violence up close did not have to scrub blood out of dress shirts but she could feel the threat underneath suit jackets and in long dark looks exchanged with tired looking detectives who called in the night. She knew that ordinary people did not receive money in briefcases, that for regular people defining their employment was easier and much more specific than 'I do all sorts of things, facilitate negotiations. I'm an umpire in the game of life'. She knew that regular little boys and girls did not have to flee their countries during peace times and wait with their mothers by the phone until their father called to tell them that it was safe to return.

Ordinary people did not have six different passports with six different names.

Ordinary people did not make plans to run away with a rival organisations son.

The thought of _him_ made her belly clench. She must have been grimacing because Alejandro looked at her curiously.

"You two should go for dinner."

It wasn't an outrageous suggestion and considering she'd just gotten back from being out of the country for a year and Alejandro was visiting on business (or so the untrained mind assumed) it would be quite the welcome. But Eva was not an idiot and she could count on one hand the number of her fathers business associates she'd met. There was something going on here but Eva was too tired to puzzle it out.

Eva smiled apologetically at both of them, "Usually I would not be so rude as to decline but it's been a long train journey and I can't even think about anything but sleep." she explained. "Perhaps another night?" she turned to ask her father who was the real decision maker in this room.

Gio gave her a look, the sort that conveyed his thoughts without him having to utter a word. "Alejandro is only in town for two nights and I've been talking his ear off about since I heard you were coming home."

She hadn't told anyone she was coming home today, had expressly asked Anne Marie's parents not to say anything, made them promise. She didn't want to think about how he found out though it probably involved someone following her. That would have been creepier if she wasn't used to it. Ordinary girls didn't have to worry about being stalked.

He was doing the perfect impression of a reasonable man and Eva wanted to smack him for ignoring the look of reluctance on her face. "Papa-" She wanted to go to bed, to lie down in the front room and stare at the crown moulding and think about the man she had spent the last year trying to forget. The very last thing she wanted to do was go to dinner. She'd only embarrass herself by falling asleep in her food.

"It would be my pleasure." Alejandro interrupted. She tried with the imploring look again silently begging her father to get her out of this but he never flickered. His expression was set like stone on his face. The message clear. Do as I say.

Realising she was defeated she took a deep breath then smiled. "If you insist." she sighed fighting a childish pout. "That would be lovely thank you."

"I will send a car for you at eight." He didn't so much ask her as tell her.

When she walked back into the kitchen her mother was sitting at the island with an 'I told you so' expression. "You should have called." Eva huffed in disgust and flounced away.

She could feel the invisible collar biting. Welcome home.


	4. My brothers keeper

Rose was waiting outside Tommy's trailer when he finally stumbled home. He meandered along the dirt track unsteadily his eyes struggling to focus. Above him the lights strung up between the trailers were giant blurry globes. He staggered to a stop when he saw her. Her pretty mouth pinched and her eyes hard. He remember when Rose's face was open, when the only lines she created around her mouth and eyes were from laughing and smiling. He hadn't been any sort of boyfriend for Rose but he wondered why she'd chosen Colin after that. Colin who meant well but was a shitty husband and a lazy father. He'd taken advantage of Roses desperate need to be loved, to belong and be useful to the cause. Tommy didn't love Rose but he didn't think she deserved what she got.

"Rose." he grinned at her.

She stood up pulling the patchwork blanket over her shoulders. Her breaths came out as puffs between them. "Where's Colin?"

"I'm fine darlin' thanks for asking, and yerself?"

Rose didn't smile "Have you seen him?"

"No." He shook his head.

A look of frustrated concern crossed her features. Tommy wanted to reach out and smooth the lines out on her forehead but he was very careful not to touch Rose. It wasn't over for her, not really. She'd made that clear plenty of times. Sometimes Tommy looked at his niece and nephew and wondered what his life would be like if they were his own. Would she be happy? Would he be happy? Would their parents have been happy? It would have been easy with Rose but he'd never been a fan of easy. If he'd been into doing what was easy rather than what he wanted he never would have known a love like he did, the heart stopping mind maddening passion that tied him up and turned him upside down. He felt a stab of longing right in the centre of his chest. He thought about the woman in the red coat and imagined her with hair the colour of a warm deep sunset, with eyes that glittered emerald even in the dark. He took a deep breath as if he could still smell the honey and milk of her skin.

"He said he'd gone to see you." she pulled at the blanket as it slipped off her shoulders. "Are you sure you didn't see him?"

Tommy rocked forwards and backwards on his heels for a moment trying to think about how long Rose would continue to question him and what words would be the right ones to get her to hurry up and leave so he could fall face down in his tiny uncomfortable bed. He missed the soft fresh sheets in expensive hotels.

"Oh fucking hell Tommy how much have you had to drink?" she stepped down the stairs and leant forward to sniff him. "You stink."

"Always a pleasure Rose." he grumbled pushing past her to get to his front door. Screw placating her he needed to sleep.

"Tommy please! He's been gone for hours and he was-"

"What? High? Yeah I noticed." the plastic caravan door bounced off the stay peg without catching and swung back to hit Tommy on the arm. He grunted.

"Oh so now you have seen him!" she snapped.

"Oh for fucks sake Rose!" Tommy whirled around on her his expression menacing. "I haven't seen him for ages. He'll be back when he's back."

"He's your brother!"

"He's your husband!"

"And we all know how much that means around here don't we?" she was breathing so hard her chest was heaving up and down. The blanket had slipped down off her shoulders exposing the names of her children tattooed across the rise of her left breast. Tommy glanced at them then quickly away hoping she hadn't noticed. "Tommy please." she sounded small, quickly too tired of fighting about Colin. They were always fighting about Colin. "I'm worried about him."

Tommy reached out to put the blanket back on Roses shoulders, covering up her chest and pulling it tightly closed around her. "You're always worried about Colin." he replied wearily. "Do you think he ever worries about you?"

The shutter behind her eyes rolled down, the watery blues icing over. Tommy was much more comfortable around this Rose. "Fuck you Tommy."

"Yeah fuck me." rolling his eyes he walked back to the trailer. "He'll be back eventually."

"And what am I supposed to do until then?"

"Wait." he snapped closing the door behind him shutting out the cold air of the outside and letting the cold air inside embrace him. The trailer was the same as it always was, neat and tidy and...empty. The perfect reflection of how he felt inside. There were a couple of mugs in the sink and some tea bags making stains on the draining board. The cupboard doors had fallen off and he still hadn't gotten round to repairing them, mostly he'd been sleeping and thinking about smoking. He touched the nearly full packet of cigarettes in his back pocket, took them out and threw them in the sink. One of the mugs, full of dirty water, fell over and soaked them through. In the morning when he could think in straight lines he would be pissed about that but until then he tripped down the narrow walkway, past the busted bathroom door and onto the uncomfortable box bed.

* * *

Banging. It was the banging that woke him in the morning, or at least he hoped it was morning because if it wasn't the visitor was going to get a knuckle sandwich. Tommy rolled over, the cold air pricking at his skin waking him up better than the noise rocking his home. By the time he'd rolled out of bed the banging had stopped. The packet of cigarettes were soaking in the sink but Tommy couldn't muster up the energy to be annoyed about it. Instead he stuck the kettle on, threw the cigarettes out the window and made a cup of tea.

"Tommy!"

He dropped the mug in the sink, the handle cracking and bouncing back out onto the floor. "Jesus fucking Christ!" he exclaimed.

"Did I scare ya?" Colin grinned mischievously taking Tommy back to the years when the worst thing they had to worry about was his father's meaty palms and whose turn it was to pinch penny sweets from the post office. Now the post office was closed and any pinching they did was for goods with a value much greater than a penny.

"What are ya doin' lurking about for?" he barked frowning down at the mess in the sink. Was that his favourite mug? Did he have a favourite mug?

"I tried the door but you wouldn't answer. Did you not hear me?"

"I thought it was in my head."

Colin laughed, "Long night?"

"Mmm and then when I got back guess who was waiting for me on the steps?"

His grin vanished, "Shite."

"Shite is right. Sort your crap out would ya?"

"She was asleep when I got in but she was gone this morning, kids too."

"Aye playgroup."

"Right playgroup." he replied faintly.

It was obvious he had no idea his children even went to playgroup let alone when. "Do you ever listen to her?"

"She's always chatting bollocks I just tune her out." he waved it away as though that wasn't as bad as it sounded.

"And she saw fit to give you two kids." Tommy shook his head in disbelief.

"I'd like to see you do a better job." Colin scowled. The words hung heavy between them both boys suddenly unable to look at one another. Problem was his brother knew Tommy could do a better job he just didn't want to. At a loss for what to say he looked down at the mess in the sink again. "Can I come in? It's so cold my nipples could cut glass."

The force of his laugh surprised him.

Any hope of forgetting last night was ruined when Colin slid into the bench seat and began to talk about the diamonds. Apparently just because Tommy thought it was the worst idea ever that didn't take it off the table.

"Look first of all it's Haus' apartment. All we need is the house layout and the codes to the alarm systems - of which we have both." Tommy must have looked surprised because Colin looked superior. "Do you have no faith in me brother? Do you think I would come to you with this without any plan?"

Tommy thought exactly that.

"Haus isn't an amateur he'll have an industrial safe. He's not keeping diamonds in a keypad wall one."

"Obviously." Colin snorted.

Tommy sat back and with a great heaving sigh asked, "Go on then who's on your crack team?"

He looked pleased to have the floor again. "Me and you, obviously. Wouldn't do this without my brainy older brother." the compliment was underwhelming. "Finn - driver and then there's a guy Eoin, one of the boys over from Antrim, he's good with safes."

"Good with safes? We're gonna need a lot better than good."

"Alright he's a genius I just didn't want to over sell it."

There was no way he could over sell something Tommy had no intention of buying.

"Come on Tommy it's a slightly quieter smash and grab and we've got the security codes and a buyer already lined up for the stones so by the time Haus finds the bollocks to tell his employer that he let himself get robbed anything incriminating will be long gone."

"How exactly did you secure this?"

"Christ Tommy your constantly underestimating me is going to hurt my feelings one day."

Tommy didn't find that as distressing as he should have. There hadn't always been this contempt for his younger brother. Once upon a time they'd been thick as thieves, after Shaun died Colin and Tommy had bonded together presenting a united front for their mother and providing stability and safety for the other. But over the past few years, the last one being the tipping point, Colin's zealousness had started to make him rash and unpredictable. In truth it scared Tommy. He was afraid of his brother, afraid for him. Who knew where this desperate yearning to prove himself was going to land them?

"What if Haus' employer finds out?"

"He won't." Colin replied confidently.

"How do you know."

"Got a guy on the inside." he said it so quickly and so casually that Tommy almost thought he'd misheard.

"And you're just telling me this now?"

In response Colin rolled his eyes. Tommy's disbelief rendered him speechless.

"Come on, Da's on board." that was hardly a ringing investment. If we can pull it of, when we pull it off, out cut will more than pay for the money we lost in Penrhose."

The words were as comforting as the thought of a root canal without anaesthesia.

"You're thinking too hard about this. Let me worry about all that, you just turn up with that mug of yours and be ready to make some money."

Tommy snorted. _As if._ This whole thing felt hinky but he couldn't tell if it was because they were missing a critical part of the puzzle or it was just nerves. He hadn't carried out a job in a long time. He'd been lying low, sulking in his caravan.

At length he admitted, "It feels rushed."

"Don't you want to do something Tommy?" his brother leant over the table his face so close Tommy could see the bags under his eyes from a heavy night.

Tommy didn't want anything lately, certainly not anything he could have. He wanted to not be in this trailer, in this shanty town they'd built on top of a derelict construction site. The land was tied up in planning applications and fund gathering and in the mean time some faceless foreman was letting them squat here for a pretty price. Sometimes the local kids would drive by real slow to gawk at the tinkers. Tommy caught them sneaking in once hoping to cop a look at some of the younger girls they had. He'd sent them off with stern words and a thick ear. They were sore about it shouting abuse over their shoulders as they ran away not knowing how lucky they were not to have encountered the girls' mothers. There was nothing worse than a pissed off Irish woman, especially ones with knives.

"Don't you want to do something more than skulk around here and look like someone pisses in your porridge every morning?"

Tommy swallowed the last of his tea. If he wasn't going to do this for himself he should at least do it for Colin. His brother was a fuck up, a shoot now ask questions later kind of guy and one of these days he was going to caught by the police and have to do real time. An optimistic person would hope it taught him a lesson in how to be cautious but Tommy knew it would only stoke the fire in his soul. Tommy owed it, not to Colin but to his mother to keep him out of trouble. He nodded ignoring Colin's triumphant little laugh. "We get in and we get out, no sodding about."

"Trust me brother. It's all going to be fine."

Tommy cringed but Colin was too busy clapping his hands together like a cartoon villain to notice.


	5. Not such a blind date

Alejandro was charming but Eva couldn't say she was particularly charmed by him. It wasn't much of a fair fight when her weapon was fatigue and heart break, two negatives capable of cancelling out any positive. The shield was easily forged and fortified with her determination to keep her emotions under control. Fool her once shame on him, fool her twice shame on her. She wasn't down with shame.

"You look stunning." the compliment came so easily from him, everything to him seemed so effortless but she didn't know if it was because his flattery was lubricated by truth or he was just good with women. Still she appreciated the gesture, she might have felt rumpled and out of sorts but it was nice to know she didn't look it, or at least no one was going to tell her she did. Her Red dress had one of those plunging necklines that looked strangely modest on the small breasted mannequins but was dangerously close to be being obscene on Eva's slightly more voluptuous figure. She wore this dress out in Paris all the time and had slipped it on without a second thought but standing here with Alejandro who was doing his very best not to look down it occurred to her that perhaps she should have worn something a bit more modest, or at least something she could safely lean forward in. It wasn't like she thought how she dressed should dictate the behaviour of others, she was hardly going to let him use her wardrobe to excuse any inappropriate actions but it wouldn't stop him if he wanted to try. Her temple pulsed warning her that she was over thinking tonight. There was no need to make this more complicated than it needed to be. Dinner and some conversation then she could go to sleep and figure out what she was going to do next when the sun rose.

"You look nice as well." his charcoal suit moulded over his broad shoulders, his broad chest highlighted rather than hidden by his ivory shirt. Dinner out was always a formal affair for a Vittoria she couldn't imagine sitting in the car eating a bacon sandwich from a motorway rest stop with this man. Her obsession with street cart food had surprised Anne Marie then delighted her. They trawled Paris looking for the best vendors around and sitting in parks and on benches enjoying their food out of paper bags. It felt good to be doing something without any polish.

Despite accepting the offer in its round about delivery she mused that it was probably a good thing she was going out for dinner to a place where she was required to make an effort, if she needed a reminder that whatever had happened a year ago was over this would be it. No more flying by the seat of her pants everything would be diarised, invitations sent with RSVP's required and frippery adorned. Functions and benefits and responsibility.

She shuddered.

Alejandro must have thought she was cold because he put a proprietary arm around her shoulders. It stayed there until they were through the restaurant doors. Behind them the car rolled away. The hostess was a pretty thing, just like the ticket attendant had been, and she lead them with the same sort of smile. It must have been a service smile, one they taught in tiny staff rooms where they assured you that even if the customer was an asshole they were still supposed to be right. The table was at the back lit only by candles that flickered wildly every time someone walked past them. It was almost impossible to see the person opposite but even if she squinted she could not convince herself that the man sitting before her was the one she really wanted, just the one she got. It wasn't Alejandro's fault. He wasn't in a position to say no to her father any more than she was but it didn't stop her from being annoyed that she was here having to make small talk, be flirty enough to be good company but not too flirty so as to lead him on. She wasn't a fool she knew her father was using her to butter up a potential associate but considering all he did for her playing hostess was the least she could do. It wasn't like sitting opposite Alejandro was a chore. He was easy on the eyes .

She was sure he was everything a girl could want but he was no Irishman.

Eva reached out for her menu.

"Would you mind?" his hand slid across stilling her. She followed the line of his arm up to curiously frown at him. "I come here often, I know what's good." he explained.

Eva resisted an eye roll. Her brow twitched. He came here often did he? If Eva was a different kind of girl, one who cared, she wouldn't have been happy to hear that. "Ah." she hummed. "But do you know what I _want._ "

He faltered his quietly confident smile wavering. If this was going to be the tone for the night she was going to have to drink. "Sorry." he sat back admonished. "I usually order because," he gave a funny little sigh, "I'm a control freak I guess."

Despite herself Eva felt a small grin tug at the corners of her lips.

"I'm so used to making executive decisions all the time it becomes my default."

"Oh really?" she teased.

Mortified he rushed to back track. "Oh I don't mean that I'm always in charge because I'm the best but-" he trailed off as though searching for the right words. "I work, a lot. This is actually the first date I've been on in a long time."

Eva choked on her spit. "Date?"

"I know getting my potential business partner to set me up with his daughter." he laughed self depreciatingly.

She knew it was a date. The fancy restaurant, the low lighting and the suit. She'd been complicit too, she was wearing her Red dress after all but hearing him confirm it out loud made her feel angry. Her father was pimping her out! "It is certainly..." she searched for the right word.

"Awkward?" he suggested.

"Presumptuous."

He grinned "It is isn't it?" they sat in silence for a beat then he nudged the menu towards her. "Why don't you order for us?"

She cocked her head to the side. "I've never been here before."

"I have a feeling I'll like whatever it is." he sat back, at ease.

"Unless you die of anaphylaxis because I don't know about any allergies you have."

He laughed startled. "Dark. Well then I'll get a veto vote. If I think it's going to kill me you choose something else."

"Okay." she nodded and flipped open the menu. "We'll start with drinks yes?" he nodded. "I think I'll have a vodka tonic."

"No wine?" She shot him a look. "No wine."

"Beer? No wait, you'll have a Vodka too."

"I will?"

"Unless you want veto?"

He declined her gracious offer and let her continue to order.

"How about Spinach and ricotta rolled Pasta?"

"Veto."

"You do know I'm Italian right?" she arched a brow at him.

"I don't like Garlic." he shrugged.

Eva loved garlic. Mostly Garlic bread. Carbs with any sort of sauce containing Garlic in general. Bad breath be damned, it tasted too good.

"Are you a vegetarian?"

God save her from a Vegetarian. She really liked meat. He shook his head and saved his life. Eventually they settled on an order, a fussy sounding pasta free dish that was essentially meat and vegetables, except the portion was stingy and she was still hungry at the end of it. As they ate they talked and laughed. Alejandro was funny and he was interesting, well travelled and good with his words considering English was his second language.

"I've lived all over. China, Brazil, Russia, even Saudi Arabia for a while." he explained. "And English is a business language so you either learn fast or you miss out."

"Why were you in Saudi Arabia?" she knew it was dicey to ask, if Alejandro was the kind of business partner she suspected he was then his answer would be nil or cagey. Possibly he'd lie.

"Why everyone is there. Oil." he said it so easily that she knew it was truth. Her face must have betrayed her feelings because he asked, "Did you think I'd lie?"

Busted. She nodded with a guilty little yes.

"I wasn't there for nefarious means. The company I worked for at the time were helping negotiations between them and China. Did you know China import all their oil? Nuclear power only gets you so far."

"Fascinating."

He groaned at himself. "No it's not it's more work speak. I can't switch it off. I'm sorry. Maybe we need more drinks."

"So long as you don't mine me falling asleep on your shoulder in the car home."

Alejandro shook his head "I wouldn't mind that at all."

Despite a belly full of food her fatigue made her a light weight. Alejandro had his arm around her waist as they exited the restaurant and she was tripping over her feet muffling her giggle in his coat. "Oh I'm so sorry." she sighed as they slowed so that she wouldn't trip. "I can usually handle my liquor better than this."

"It's fine. You were jet lagged."

"I wasn't on a jet, it was a train." she looked up at him. "Silly."

"Oh of course. Silly me." Alejandro looked down at her with a fond expression. He looked at her like her father might. That was a weird thought so she looked down the street. They'd replaced the streetlights down this road to look like old fashioned lanterns, but they were only good for illuminating the area directly below and around them. She and Alejandro dipped in and out of the darkness her heels catching on the cracks in the cobbles. "Oh these ridiculous shoes." she stopped abruptly and bent over.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to take them off."

"No you can't do that. The street is wet and you might cut your feet."

"Maybe you could give me a piggy back?" she suggested brightly.

"A piggy back?"

"Yes I could ride on your back."

He might have blushed but the light was so bad it was hard to tell. "I don't think you can in that dress."

She looked down as though just remembering what she was wearing. "I hate that you're right."

He made a helpless sound. "You can make it a little further the car isn't far."

She pouted childishly. _He_ would have carried her. Heck she'd have let him throw her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry and she would have squealed with laughter the whole time. Alejandro was funny and charming but proper and polite and just not the man she loved. A sad sigh slipped free.

"Are you all right?" he bowed down face the perfect picture of concern. What a gentleman.

She didn't want a gentleman. She wanted a Irish one.

 _Tommy._ She thought.

"What?" up ahead the car glittered with rain.

"What?" she echoed.

"Who's Tommy?"

Eva balked. She didn't realise she'd said it out loud. That was a mistake. A very silly suddenly sobering mistake. She broke away from him and opened the car door slipping inside and shutting it before he had the chance to follow.

She closed her eyes and didn't reopen them until she was home.


End file.
